I’m starting off with the simplest ways, so I recommend trying each method as you go down this list so you aren’t trying something unnecessarily difficult when a much easier solution would have done the job just fine.

1. Restart

It’s also the simplest way to turn off safe mode on your Android phone.

Press and hold the power button.

From the menu presented, select Restart/Reboot. Some devices, however, only have the Power Off option.

If your phone has the Restart option, it should power up automatically after it goes off.

If you don’t, just press the power button again once it’s off to turn the phone back on.

2. Using the Notifications Panel

So what if the phone is still stuck in safe mode even after you’ve performed a restart. It’s time to pay attention to the notifications panel.

Pull down the notifications panel.

Tap the Safe Mode button to turn it off. Please note, though, that some phones don’t have this feature on their phones.

If you’re among the lucky ones whose smartphones have the Safe Mode button on the Notifications Bar, you should see that the device automatically restarts to get you out of safe mode after you disable it. I’ve seen this feature on a Samsung Galaxy phone, so if you own one, you should be seeing it on the notifications panel, too.

3. Key Combinations (Power + Volume)

Sometimes, in order to make a trick work, you should combine multiple elements. The same thing works with turning off the safe mode in Android. Pressing the Power key together with the Volume rocker might be the help you need.

Turn off the smartphone.

Once you’re sure it’s off, press and hold the Power button until you see the logo on the screen, then release.

Quickly press the Volume Down button and hold it for few seconds until you see the message “Safe Mode: OFF” or something similar.

4. Cut Off All Power

If you still cannot turn off your Android’s Safe Mode, try this. The following method rules out any residual power remaining in your phone, as well as resetting the SIM card.

Take off the back case and remove the battery. Of course, this only works for phones with a removable battery.

Dislodge the SIM card.

Reinsert the SIM card.

Replace the battery.

5. Wipe the Cache of an App

If you suspect that an app is causing your issue, but can’t bear the thought of uninstalling it, you can try this method first. It’s simple and it works in almost all Android devices.

Go to Settings and look for the Apps menu. My phone calls the Apps menu as Application Management. It doesn’t matter, though.

Find the corrupted app and select it. Let’s say, my Facebook app is corrupted. Please note that I neither have any problem with Facebook nor Mark Zuckerberg. Just kidding!

Choose Clear cache.

6. Clear App Data

While this method is similar to the last one, this approach is a little more drastic because you will clear both the cache and any personal preferences such as your login or settings.

From Settings, look for the Apps menu.

Select the corrupted app by pressing on it.

Tap on Clear data.

7. Uninstall the Corrupted App or Apps

I’m sorry it’s come to this, but any app that has you locked into Safe Mode really isn’t usable anyway. You will, at least, regain access to your other apps and hopefully, help you get out of safe mode.

This method is great if you’re only going to uninstall a single application, but if you can’t identify which particular app is the culprit or want to go ahead and eliminate some other apps at the same time, you can try reading our post that offers quick methodsto do so.

8. Wipe the Cache of Your Entire Device

We started out small-scale and that didn’t work. So with the next few methods we are going to pull out the big guns, so to speak, and wipe your device’s cache.

Enter recovery mode.

On many devices, recovery mode can be accessed by turning your phone off, then pressing and holding the power and volume up buttons at the same time. You can select recovery mode with the volume down button.

On a Samsung phone, you have to turn your phone off. Now press the Volume Up, Home, and Power buttons simultaneously. When the phone vibrates or when you see the Samsung logo, release the Power button only. Only when you see the Android Recovery screen appear should you release the Volume Up and Home buttons.

Use the Volume Down button to choose “Wipe cache partition” and the Power button to select it. Your device should instruct you to reboot.

9. Perform a Factory Reset

Here comes the dreaded factory reset. For starters, factory reset involves deleting everything from your phone- photos, documents, apps, contacts, and messages- and restoring the device to its original state.

Warning: Make a backup first or you will lose anything you have added to the device. You might want to look into supplemental backup apps to ensure that your photos, SMS, videos, and other data are not lost forever.

Via the Settings menu:

Go to the Settings.

Look for the Backup and Reset menu. You can create a backup of some of your data here. However, this is not a 100% backup.

Select Factory data reset or Delete all user data.

Read the disclaimer and tap on Reset Phone. Don’t panic if the phone reboots after you click on the reset option. This is normal.

Once the phone turns on, you can see that all data has been wiped out.

Via the Recovery Mode:

Enter the Recovery Mode. (Please refer to Method 8)

Once you’re in the recovery mode, hold the Power button and press the Volume Up key once and release the power button.

Press the Volume Down button until the Wipe Data/Factory Reset gets highlighted. Tap on the Power key to select it.

Once finished, choose Reboot system now.

If you check “Automatically Restore” your phone should take care of the last few steps for you.

10. Troubleshoot Hardware

Let’s say you dropped your device in water. Unless your device is waterproof, this is bad news for your phone. If you have tried the methods above, but safe mode still isn’t going anywhere, it could be that the hardware is causing the issue.

Warning: If you have a warranty, now would be the time to use it instead. Do not disassemble your phone unless you know what you are doing! If you don’t feel comfortable, let someone else handle it. If you know or you can see that something needs to be cleaned, and you feel OK about doing it, perform this step.

Remove and clean any faulty hardware.

Test the buttons, particularly the Power and Volume buttons, to ensure they are working properly and that none remains stuck. The volume buttons are often responsible for locking in Safe Mode.

Conclusion

Most of the time you should be able to simply restart your phone and exit Safe Mode. The rest of the methods can be useful but it’s just not quite that easy. Stuck buttons, bad updates, seedy or buggy applications, and defective hardware can all lead to this issue. Apps may conflict with each other and even the operating system itself can have issues.

Just remember that as frustrating as this experience might have been, Safe Mode is not an enemy. It has been around on desktop computers for a very long time as a means to troubleshoot or recover from a crash safely.

Which method works best for you? Still stuck in Safe Mode? Do you know a method not listed here? Tell me more about it below.

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Reader Interactions

Comments (206)

Thank you so much for this information. I have spent the last hour trying to get out of safe mode through various other websites and they didn’t work or were too scary to contemplate. The scariest was a YouTube video complete with spare parts and soldering iron! Then I found this site with the things I had tried plus more! Your site had all the information needed and was very clearly laid out and explained. I am a technical writer, so I notice these things. Method 4 worked in my situation. Thanks again, Rose

Hi, so unfortunately none of these worked for me, the solution that worked for me was to go to best buy, they have a samsung technician onsite and can write a program to overwrite the safe mode. No appt, necessary.

Hi There, I´m glad that method 4 worked for you. You´re most welcome for the information, but don´t forget to share your positive experience with others so they too can benefit from the tips. =-) Thanks for commenting.

Hello. I have a problem. I am forced to start my phone into safe mode. I have an HTC one and it keeps going into the hboot mode whenever I switch my phone on. I can’t select anything in the menu there. So I start up my phone by pressing the power button and volume up button. (to add to my problems the volume down button isn’t working) Any advice would be appreciated ::)

Philip I believe your phone volume down button is struct or pressed inside. So when you use power button, it means you are actually pressing power + volume down button. Thats why you get hboot mode. You need to fix your hardware first or pull out the volume down button. Trust this helps

Pretty phone savvy but can’t get this one out of safe mode tried all the methods listed except the last one only because I can’t get into recovery mode for some reason I think I may have hardware issues is there anything else I may try before I get a new phone. Thanks.

Hi Chuzeen, Have you tried taking off any case you might have on the phone? It might be pressing a button that is keeping you in safe mode. Also, please check to see if you have any stuck buttons that could also be preventing you from getting out of safe mode. Hope this helps. =-)

Hi Trina, Do you have a case on your phone? If you do that could be pressing buttons that is keeping your phone in safe mode.Stuck volume buttons could also be the culprit. Let me know if the case suggestion works for you. Thanks for commenting. =-)

my phone is in recovery/safe mode and im trying to restart it .My pc will not recognize it at all and I have downloaded the drivers several times. I just want to reboot the phone but my power button is missing .Any idea how to get out of safe mode without a power button ?

Jeremy, Try to install these two apps named “screen off” and “Gravity Screen”. They will help you to use the phone without power button. But still I’m not sure this will help you to get out of safe mode!

Hello Mel, follow the steps to clear your applications cache memory, Open Settings-> Tap on Apps-> then locate the app that you want to clear the cache-> Tap the app-> Tap Clear cache. Try to open the Mich lotto application now, Hope you can access the application on normal mode. Let me know if that solves your problem!

My galaxy grand mobile fall in water by accident and the volue buttons are no longer working. the device is now in same and I can not try some of these 6 options simply because they need the volume button. I think is there any software method that would allow me to deactivate the function ?

Is there any harm in leaving your phone in safe mode for long periods of time? For example, I’m in class and won’t be using my phone for a few hours. Can I turn on safe mode to save battery and still receive phone calls and texts? (I know third party apps won’t be available to use, just stock apps.) Thanks!

Hi Ann, I don´t see the harm in leaving your phone is safe mode for a few hours. It will help you save battery and I don´t see why you shouldn´t be able to receive calls and texts. Thanks for commenting.

Hello Ann, Yes! you can absolutely leave your phone on safe mode for a long period of time, definitely in safe mode you will save your battery from draining at the same time you can receive phone/texts. Let me know if that answers your question!

Hi. Do you know how to disable the option to boot into safe mode? I am aware of how to get out of safe mode, but I would like to disable this option for the security of my child’s phone. Thanks for any help you can give me. Horace

Hi Horace, Are you sure you don´t want to count on this feature? It will help keep your child´s phone safe in case an app or virus is causing problems and give you the possibility of fixing the issue. Thanks for commenting.

Hi, I want to disable safe mode for the same reason as Horace, and im sure I want to keep my child safe from the bad side of the internet more than i want to keep the phone safe, ill have a good antivirus, and worse comes to worse ill get a new phone. also a way to block safe mode with a password or not permanently is also a good idea, is there such a way?

Hello Horace, Follow the steps to disable Safe Mode-> turn off your phone-> then press and hold “Power button” until you see the manufacturers logo on the screen-> then release the power button,”Quickly” press “Volume Down” and hold it for few seconds until you see the message “Safe Mode: OFF”. If you wanted re-enable it, simply repeat the steps above, and you should see “Safe mode: ON” rather than off. Let me know if that solves your problem!

I appreciate these clear and concise directions and the photos !!! too. The youtube videos were a hassle to stop and go back. So glad I found this site! bookmarked for what I am sure will be many future visits. Thx

Hi Fred, The reason that you may still not be able to get our of safe mode could be because of stuck buttons. Please take off any case or gel skin from your device, if the case is pressing the menu key, it can cause it to go into safe mode. Please press each of the buttons to make sure that they are not stuck. Then re-start your phone, if that still doesn´t work then we might be looking at defective hardware. Hope this helps

Hi Tatyanah, If you have tried everything in the article then it might be because of stuck buttons. Please remove any case or gel skin from your device, if the case is pressing the menu key, it can cause it to go into safe mode. Please press each of the buttons to make sure that they are not stuck. The re-start you phone, if that still doesn´t work then we might be looking at defective hardware. Hope this helps.

Hi There, Try the methods again but this time, take off any case your device may have since it might be pressing buttons that are keeping your device is safe mode. If that doesn´t work, play with your device’s buttons to see that they are not stuck. Another reason you may not be able to get out of safe mode. I hope this helps. =-)

I have a problem that my phone always goes to system recovery and I can’t select any of the features because the power button is broken so every time I remove the battery and put it back it always goes to system recovery. I need help

Hello Carlos, ROM Manager, developed by Koushik Dutta is one of the applications where you can boot into Recovery mode on my phone. The app is available for free at the Google Play Store. Just download and install it, open the app and select “Reboot into Recovery”. There are other similar application too like Quick Reboot,Rapid Reboot,Reboot Manager,etc. Hope this fixes your problem!

So if my phone was hacked and I take it off of safe mode will there be a problem? Will I know if it was hacked? I’m not sure how it hapoened… I think it may have just happened when I put it in my purse and I hadn’t locked it….but I want yo make sure I wasn’t hacked. Thanks for your help!

I have tried every step and my phone is still in safe mode. I spilled coffee on my phone recently and it broke my home button and volume button. I wasnt able to try the volume button method becuase of that but i tried every other method and still nothing. I think ive came to the conclusion of having to get a new phone

Hi Chelsea, Getting a new phone phone doesn´t sound like a bad idea at all considering the coffee incident and that could have cause some damage to your phone. For what they might charge you for fixing it, it is a better idea to use that money for a new phone. Thanks for commenting.

I have an S4 that I must’ve accidentally put in safe mode somehow. All i get is a black screen with the wrd “custom” and a pic of a lock. All of these methods are not working…I’m getting real nervous here. I use my phone for business and am already missing calls. HELP!!!!

Hi Eva, Other possibilities that your phone is not coming out of safe mode is because of stuck buttons. Please remove any case or gel skin from your device, if the case is pressing the menu key, it can cause it to go into safe mode. Please press each of the buttons to make sure that they are not stuck. The re-start you phone, if that still doesn´t work then we might be looking at defective hardware. Hope this helps.

Hi Pakishi, How unfortunate to hear that your phone won´t come out of safe mode, but have you tried uninstalling recently Installed Apps since they may be the ones causing the problems and Wiping Cache Partition (Dalvik Cache) since data can sometimes cause your Android to endlessly be in safe mode. The steps for clearing the cache will vary with each device. Please let me know if this helps.

Hi Rizwan, I am guessing that you are saying that out of frustration, but trust me, Safe Mode is something you want to be able to count on since you never know when you are going to need it. You may have a stuck volume key/rocker and/or the power button.

It’s more likely to be the stuck volume key/rocker…have them check to see if it’s dirty/gummed-up and stuck in one position and see if that helps. Please let me know what happens.

Hi Majid, I am glad that one of the methods was able to help you and you are most welcome for the info. Don´t forget to keep coming back for more useful tips and tricks for your phone. Thanks for commenting! =-)

I have had safe mode on my phone for the past three weeks and have tried to turn it off by pressing the bar on the drop-down menu which did nothing and by holding the power and volume buttons and selecting the safe mode option which also has no effect whatsoever. I went to a Verizon store the other day and was told to backup everything important and then set my phone back to factory settings. So, I did that and everything on my phone has been deleted but safe mode is still on. Any suggestions?

Hi Kaytie, If you have a case on your phone that could be pressing some buttons that could be keeping your phone in safe mode and stuck buttons have also been known to be responsible for this too. Please make sure that this is not your case and don´t forget to let me know what happens. I hope this helps. =-)

Hi Bobby, Before trying the tips mentioned in the article, please take off the case you may have on your phone because it could be pressing buttons on your device and preventing you from getting our of safe mode. Also, check to see if your device may have any stuck buttons, so play with them to see if they are Ok. Hope this helps. Let me know how this works out for you. =-)

Hi Nizam, Please take off any case you may have on your phone that could be pressing a button that puts you back into safe mode. Also, check to see if any of the button on your phone are not stuff, that could also be the problem. Hope this helps. Thanks for commenting. =-)

Can you help me ?! Until now I can’t disable the safe mode . I’ve tried already the method but still I can’t disable it. My volume button is not working anymore , what are the other method ? Please help

Hi Loren, There is a really good chance that the reason you can´t get out od safe mode is because of that volume button that´s not working. I would recommend having it fixed and hopefully get out of safe mode. Thanks for commenting. =-)

I had my samsung galaxy grand duous touch screen replaced recently. Since then my cell is showing safe mode. I have tried all option restrating , factory reset but no improvement. My friend has suggested using ODIN mode and do factory rest from there. IS thi spossible or there any other way to work out the issue.

Hi there, i have a samsung galaxy duos phone. it fell one day and d screen got broken. I was still able to use d phone with all the buttons working properly. l however decided to replace d broken screen because it made d phone look ugly. I went to the phone dealer’s shop and he replaced the screen with a new one but it kept on booting in safe mode. He tried several new screens but same thing. meanwhile he had already discarded my broken screen. Now my phone is useless without a screen because i refused the new screen. My question is what could the problem be and can i use the phone on safe mode continuously like he advised me?

Hi Fahmeed, Try putting your charging cable to your phone and restart your phone and while it´s rebooting hit the home button various times until it stops rebooting. This has been known to work especially for Huawei phones. Hope this helps. =-)

i have oneplus one i had this problem (safe mode), it happen suddenly after using ” share it app” but the solution was simple.. i just low down all my phone volume and i reboot it..and every thing was back then.

my ph has been taken over. ivedoneeverthing you suggested. this app is in root, deleted awhile ago but never left. i found it by mistake. its shitting me off from data, or foogle apps. its been days of this ive lost all and control of ph. contact googleandroid safe is first time i can usr phone. i have no contract, it a sam. gal sgm386t myfamymobile.com is carrier. no car no ph when it wants it deletes what i write. cant send texts cant gett or stay on google. i feel im in abattle. thanks for hearing me if it comes thru. nothing else is working

im sorry bought my bad typing. i didnt look till after i wrote. this safe mode has let me get out to someome but this root app has control when not in safe mode. please can you let android google know. im actually scared. i lm disabled no other ph. though this account will be gone asap. new sim. im hopeful they will see the logs and info i saw. kingoroot krause su and verity took over my ph. boosting for months in my neighborhood and my private. ive lost Three thousand photos buts it flashes them at me. wont let me update says its root tunnerler didnt catch a dile over air fast enough. i pinned to dr but next day its gone. im saying to much. this has scared me cause i wonder what i had or saw that it wont go. i have no apps now, why wont it go

Hi.. I’m using Samsung S7 edge.. Now my volume down button stuck.. And cannot disable the safe mode. Currently I cannot get my phone fix but I need some downloaded app Is there any ways to by pass the safe mode and using the app ? Or can I disable my safe mode with the volume button stuck ? As I failed to “un-stuck” then volume button. 🙁

Hi There, Have you tried rebooting your phone or maybe even uninstalling the apps you may have recently installed. Maybe an app you have made your phone go into safe mode and uninstalling the ones you recently installed may help you phone boot normally. Hope this helps. =-)

Yes.. Reboot to disable the safe mode. But due to volume button stuck So it back to safe mode (I guess) Was suggest by the service centre to change the whole screen & casing Tried delete the recent install app, but still the same

Hi, thank for the info. i have schedule for the repair next week, due to working in outstation. Just found out that, some apps are actually can be use even in safe mode, e.g YouTube & FaceBook. Is there any ways to open the apps that previously installed ? Thanks

Hi There, If you create a shortcut of that particular app that you want to launch in safe mode, you can do so while in safe mode. But you should be in normal mode when creating the shortcut. To run your app in safe mode, you need to copy your app to /system/app, for which you need root access. So only on a rooted device, it is possible. Thanks for commenting. =-)

Hi, my friend is freaking out over this safe mode. Neither of us were aware of a safe mode at all. I want to know if it can delete apps without asking, because after safe mode had been turned on all/most of her downloaded apps were deleted. I want to know if safe mode did this or if something else did, and if it was safe mode, none of the things seem to be working and none of her buttons are stuck. She doesn’t even have a case. I’m asking because she is very concerned right now, thanks!

ZTE lever stuck in safe mode has water damage. Volume buttons do not work anymore either, still make calls, get calls, make text an receive text, but no apps can be used. I can use the internet, an YouTube beyond that no apps I downloaded will work. I have tried all of these steps. Please help

You saved my sanity. The problem was my new case which pushed on the volume buttons too much (and didn’t allow me to adjust the volume). I cut out the part of the case that was touching the volume buttons and voila!!!

Why did you put it in Safe Mode, Was there something malfunctioning? You could try clearing the device cache to see if that helps. Everything I’ve seen shows you should just need to power it down, then turn it on again. Example T-Mobile Support Site

My phone required a system update and when it was done the safe mode was on. I cannot clear the cache because the aps aren’t even there. All apps i see are like contacts, camera, gallery, calendar…. nothing like facebook, instagram, whatsapp….

to me, it sounds like a corrupt download and update. there are apps and software out there that say they fix bad installs, but I can’t vouch for any of them. You can try to redownload the update via the system update option in the settings. If that doesn’t work, and as little fun as it is, it may be best to reset the phone.

Hey I hope people are still active here as I’ve been having a strange problem. My phone has been stuck in safe mode the past week because my volume down button is stuck internally… I’ve factory reset twice now and is still broken. I want to use my apps, please help!

most likely it’s just trying to do too much all at once. If you set the less important apps to sync manually, you can probably avoid this issue. Try turning off the sync option for a few of the apps to see if the problem goes away.

You can also free up some space on your phone, this can also make your phone work harder.

You’ve removed the battery and rebooted it, I assume. Have you looked to see if there are any buttons that are sticking or are there any external devices plugged into the USB or the micro-SD card slot? Try to remove them and see if it boots correctly.

i am using samsung galaxy grand duos.i updated my android version jellybean 4.2.1 to 4.2.2. when i restarted it gone to safe mode i have tried everything but i cant get rid of that .. please help me///

Hi. Volume down button of my Samsung S7 broken. I sent the phone to service to repair it but they asked for about €300. I don’t know what to do. Is there any solution for my problem? Thank you very much.

broken devices, even if unintentional are not covered under the warranty. You can ask for it back as-is and see if you can get it fixed locally. If you have insurance on the phone, you can make a claim.

Have tried everything and still on safe mode. I even took it to a Boost dealership and the woman there deleted all my apps and I was there almost 2hours! Still on safe mode. I’m beyond pissed. What can I do? This is killing me.

Thankyou so much all wonderful advice and indeed my volume down button doesn’t work, thus staying in Safe Mode but before sending it away, to be fixed I need to back up 2 crucial 3rd party apps usually by Dropbox but it also doesn’t appear in Safety mode any suggestions? Unfortunately I’m not technical enough to know if rooting it can help, although I can follow explicit directions reasonably well the model is a Sony E2363 Aqua dual SIM Experia

This is a great tip. Viruses can be on internal or external memory. If the virus is just on external memory, solving performance issues and preventing the spread of the virus is often as simple as removing the card. Of course, if you want to recover files on that card, you’ll still need to remove the virus, and you probably want to run a virus scan on your device even after the card is removed just to be safe.

My Samsung galaxy S7 got water into it a while ago but the repair shop sorted it, I was aware of wouldn’t be perfect when I got it back and I was right the volume keys worked at the start then they stopped working. They press fine, I even tried to clean around the buttons & I don’t have a phone case. I let my phone die and it came back on in safe mode ever since my volume keys stopped fuctioning. I factory reset my phone, rebooted, deleted apps, cleared cache, everything, it is still in safe mode. Help please! I can’t get it repaired I only just recently spend to repair.